IM interoperability--at least for business.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: Up front: news, trends & analysis - Instant messaging

Research firm IDC estimates that as many as 255 million people will use instant messaging (IM) at work in 2005, up from 65 million in 2002.

That estimate may have to be revised because using IM at work is about to get much easier, even if it will no longer be free. One of the main stumbling blocks to the widespread use of IM technology has always been interoperability. In other words, MSN Messenger users have not been able to send or receive instant messages from Yahoo! or America Online (AOL) IM users.

But soon, IM subscribers that use different IM networks at work will be able to communicate with each other. Microsoft recently announced that it will open its IM software used by businesses to AOL and Yahoo's systems.

Microsoft's separate messaging software allows businesses to install IM within their corporate networks, where conversations can be monitored and saved, much like enterprise e-mail. The ability to connect to AOL and Yahoo's IM networks will be an add-on feature to the next version of Microsoft software that enables messaging, called Live Communications Server, due out by the end of the year. It will allow business users to employ a single software program to send and receive instant messages from AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and other providers if they first set up an account with each service. Companies will have to license the Microsoft network software, which will act as...